Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Fibonacci Day

Good Friends:

Today is Fibonacci Day, a day set aside to celebrate the Fibonacci form of poetry. This is Fibonacci day because 11-23 are the four numbers for the syllable count of the first four lines of a Fibonacci: 1-1-2-3.

I have written only a few 'Fibs' (as they are affectionately called), but there is a thriving community of poets who really enjoy this form. Take a moment today to visit the Fib, the online zine devoted to the form. You can find it on my list of blogs and sites I like. Just click on 'Fib Review' and you can find out what the Fib Poets are up to.

Better yet, write a Fibonacci. The linneation is as follows: 1-1-2-3-5-8 . . . Since it is based on a mathematical series that keeps expanding, if you are adventuroues you can go past the six lines:

1-1-2-3-5-8-13-21-34 . . .

If you want to write some of the really long lines, my suggestion is to think of Proust and his beautifully crafted long lines. He's a good model for the longer lines of the Fibonacci.

Sonnet poets have written a lot of Sonnets on the Sonnet. So here is a Fibonacci on the Fibonacci that I wrote just for fun to celebrate this special day:

Fibs --
Poems --
Not lies --
Poetry --
Based on a series
That slowly unfolds like a seed,
At first you hardly notice that the Fib has started,
Then the lines that were once so constricted suddenly open like branches of a tree,
This is its nature, its ever-expanding essential meaning and centrifugal motion of the exhilarating Fibonacci!

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